Broken
by Sir Sapphire04
Summary: Lion-O and the other Cats deal with the fallout from the events in Avista city. Season finale spoilers.


"I was a fool to trust Pumyra..."

"Don't beat yourself up, kid." Panthro said, craning his neck behind him to look at the young king, "She had us all going pretty good."

The cats were assembled in the bridge of the Thundertank, which the Berbils had been kind enough to repair for them. They had left the Feliner behind at the grounded Avista city so they could study its propulsion systems and hopefully apply that to get the city flying again. They were on their way to the refugee settlement for a much-needed check up on the freed Cat slaves as well as some R&R for themselves.

"She fooled all of us, betrayed all of us." Cheetara agreed.

"But I should have known, I was with her the most. You don't go from wanting to kill someone to kissing them overnight."

"Just wait till we get home, you'll feel better." His brother assured him.

Lion-O only stood up and excused himself from the bridge. "There's something I have to do. Now."

They sat in silence for a moment before Tygra silently stalked out too. Moments later the was a loud bang from the cargo hold, Cheetara ran to see what was the matter. When she got there she found Tygra tearing the place apart. Boxes and crates had been thrown across the room, tools and spare parts scattered on the floor and currently he was furiously beating on the wall. Harder, and harder until he was leaving tufts of fur and scrapes of skin on the dented metal.

"Stop it!" She cried, grabbing his arm and placing a hand over his bloody knuckles causing him to wince and pull his punch. "Why are you doing this?"  
"Because he wont!" He shouted at her, "Ever since he came out of those _stupid_ "Trials" he's been so blasted smug and self-righteous, he probably doesn't even have it in him to hate her!" He pulled away from her and stated pacing the hold furiously, savagely kicking anything that got in his way. "Well let me tell you, I can deal with that. I can deal with him angry, I could even deal with him when he was a jealous little punk and he took it out on you, but I cannot deal with him like _this_!"

Cheetara tenderly placed a hand on his shoulder but he pulled away. "Tygra..."

"I should have known this was coming, I _did_ know this was coming. I was the one who said he was only setting himself up!" His words were poisoned with guilt.

"Just because you said that doesn't mean it's your fault."

"_Well it feels like it should be!_" He snarled. "I'm his brother, I'm supposed to be able to protect him from stuff like this, and I don't know how." He slumped to the floor and buried his face in his arms. Then he did something she had never seen him do, He started sobbing helplessly. "He doesn't deserve this, Cheetara, he doesn't deserve this kind of pain."

She sat down and wrapped her arms around him, tears stung her eyes too. "I know, I know. I feel the same way."

"No you _don't_." He hissed, "You _don't_. You don't know what it's like to spend your entire life resenting and bullying someone because you think they're smaller, weaker, _inferior_ to you only to realize in a perfect moment of clarity that they are _ten times_ better than you will ever be. And even after than you still push them, if not always to their face than behind their back."

Cheetara was silent. She had no words of comfort for him, none that he would accept.

"And then you have to watch them go through hell like this, and they're so thoroughly broken they can't even get angry at the person responsible, no, they blame _themselves_! As if!" Finally he turned and placed his head on her shoulder as his tears began to soak her top. "He doesn't deserve this Cheetara. Because even at my worst I didn't deserve it, _and he's better than me_."

Lion-O lay on his narrow bunk in his old room, well, maybe it was his new room since the rebuilding of the tank... It didn't matter, whatever. He had left the cockpit with the intention of tearing down his and Pumyra's bed but upon reaching the converted storeroom he realized that it was basically a brand new tank, they had never slept together here. Their bed was gone, just like she was.

He sat in the empty room for hours trying to hate her, but he couldn't. If he did that meant that it all truly was a lie and there was nothing left of her worth saving, and he didn't want to believe that. Finally he couldn't bear to sit there anymore and decided to move some of the clutter in the cargo bay into the storeroom just for something, _anything,_ else to occupy his mind for awhile only to find that someone had tore the place apart. He didn't care who did it, he cleaned it up anyway. When it was over he went to bed, exhausted but still unable to sleep.

He didn't know how long he had lain there when the sound of his door opening caused his ears to prick up and the feeling of a warm body sliding into bed beside him sent a wave of nostalgia over him. He knew it couldn't be her, the feeling was wrong, not as hot and smaller than Pumyra was, and that realization sent a fresh stab of pain right through him.

"Hey." A childish voice whispered.

"What are you doing, WilyKit?"

"I couldn't sleep, I figured you couldn't either so I thought I'd hang out with you for a bit."

"That's not a bad idea."

Kit was silent for a long time before she whispered again, "Lion-O, I'm so sorry, we all are. We knew you cared about her."

"Thanks, but I'm all right."

"No you're not." She insisted, "You're not _supposed_ to be, and that's okay." Lion-O tried hard to take her words to heart, he had a feeling he would receive no higher wisdom from Anet or even Jaga himself. "Please, please don't forget that we're all here for you and love you." Her words slowed and he could tell she was starting to get sleepy. "I love you, Lion-O."

"Me too, Kit." He whispered even though at this point he knew she probably couldn't hear him. "I love you too, I love all of you."

The next morning the Cats were amazed to see a large and bountiful breakfast waiting for them in the galley and Lion-O already seated at the table, sipping a cup of tea and reading from a book he had somehow gotten his paws on.

"Did you do all this?" Panthro asked incredulously.

"Yes."

"Did you sleep at _all_ last night?" Cheetara followed up.

"No."

The other cats exchanged concerned looks.

"Sit down, I want to talk to all of you." Lion-O ordered, snapping his book shut.

They obeyed, though still uneasy.

Lion-O took a few deep breaths, he had been practicing this speech all through the night and early morning hours, even as he was cooking. "I want to thank all of you for everything you've done for me and everything you _will_ do as we get through this and search for the last stone."

"None needed," Tygra began, "We all would-"

"Don't interrupt." Lion-O cut him off, "Sorry, but this is important. I know I haven't always been the easiest king to follow, or even the easiest Cat to get along, with but you all stuck by me and I haven't always done the same for you. Although we lost the stone and Pumyra we gained so much more, all of the Animals of Third Earth are banding together now to fight against Mumm-Ra. Our army will eventually dwarf his and I have no doubt in my mind that we will see victory. We have one more advantage too..." He paused and took a sip of tea. "He still thinks he can use Pumyra to manipulate me, but he's wrong. The next time we meet she's just another enemy. I won't hold back and I won't ask or expect any of you to do so either."

A worried glance shot through the other cats. They remained silent but their answer was clear, _are you sure?_

"I know there are times where my emotions can be my strength, but I refuse them to let them also be a liability. That's all I wanted to say." He took a couple of deep breaths before smiling and saying "Isn't anyone going to eat?"

The other cats began to dig in silently. Tygra was the first to speak, splitting a red fruit and offering half to his brother. "Thank-you for making us breakfast." He smiled.

Lion-O smiled back, "It was the least I could do."

They reached the settlement later that morning, a crowd formed as soon as they pulled up and followed them cheering as they drove through the center of their makeshift little town. There were more cats here than when they had rescued the slaves from Mount Plundarr, it seems like those who had gone into hiding in the wilderness were slowly trickling back in to join their countrymen in the rebuilding of Thundera.

After gathering everyone they could around the Thundertank Lion-O told the story of the their travels through third earth in the quest for the Book and the Stones. Notably he didn't leave anything out, even his own misdeeds, except for the betrayal of Pumyra. When he was pressed about it later he said "I don't want anyone hating her or trying to go after her. She's our responsibility."

After telling their tale Lion-O and Tygra spent some time talking and walking with the Cats, catching up on the local news while they were away. It seems some of soldiers who had rejoined the refugees had put together a type of militia. The brothers spent some time with the soldiers watching them drill and giving them some pointers they had learned from the other animals they had encountered. They made it clear that they would be working with and fighting alongside Dogs, Elephants, Fishmen, and even the Berbils. The other Cats seemed to accept this easily. Spending some time at the bottom of the social hierarchy had opened their eye to how poorly they had treated the other animals.

They were strolling back to the Tank when a young tri-colored cat about Lion-O's age started chasing after them.

"My Lords, my Lords!" She cried as she wave an arm high over her head, the other weighed down by a large basket, "Please, wait!"

Lion-O ran back to catch up with her and placed a steadying hand on her shoulder as she struggled to catch her breath. "What's wrong?" He asked.

"Nothing," She panted, "I just wanted to give you this lunch I made, you must be hungry after the long day. Please take it."

"Thank you." Tygra said gratefully, trying to take the basket from her only to realize she wasn't letting go. She was staring too intently at Lion-O.

"Thank you, what's your name?" His brother asked.

"Callista, but please call me Callie, Your Majesty, everyone does."

"Do me a favor Callie and call me Lion-O."

Her eyes went so wide Tygra thought they might just pop right out of her head. She blushed like a fine ripe tomato and stated babbling incoherently.

Lion-O fished out hunk of roasted meat wrapped in paper and took a bite. "This is delicious, Callie. Thank you."

She bowed clumsily, almost falling over, and ran back the way she came, ducking behind a stack of barrels and peeking out. Lion-O pretended not to see as he turned and headed back to the Tank.

"Well, she seemed nice." Tygra said.

"Yes."

"I think she liked you..." He added with a smirk.

"Tygra, I know where you're going with this and I'm only going to tell you once: I just don't care anymore." Lion-O turned and headed back to the tank, leaving his brother behind.

"I thought with that whole breakfast thing he was starting to come out of his funk, but you should have seen him today," Tygra explained the story of meeting Callie to the other Cats, "It's like he's dead inside."

"He's just had his heart broken for the second time," Cheetara explained, "He's not going to just get over it overnight because a pretty girl made him lunch. These things take time."

"Cheetara's right," Panthro agreed, "The kid knows he can come to any one of us if he needs something, anything. Even if it's only and ear to bend."

"But has he?"

"Give him time," Cheetara insisted, "He will."

"But what if he doesn't?" Tygra argued, "What if he keeps getting worse and ends up getting himself killed again. I don't want to sound selfish but I don't think I'm strong enough to deal with that, not a second time."

"We have to have faith in him." She remained steadfast, "Otherwise he _will_ get worse."

"The problem is I don't have faith in me to be what he needs right now. I keep trying to be a good brother and it doesn't seem to work." His frustration burned through every word he spoke, "He's not pushing anyone away, but he's not exactly drawing us closer to him either."

"He'll come around, don't worry." Panthro assured him, "The kid's got a good head on him, once we start lookin for the fourth stone he'll bounce back."

"I hope you're right..."

Lion-O sat in the bridge of the Thundertank alone, staring at the Book of Omens. He hadn't gone to his room on this latest sleepless night. He knew Kit would just be waiting for him there and her sneaking into bed with him only made things worse. And so he sat alone, silently begging for answers and the strength to do what he knew had to be done.

He slowly closed his eyes and suddenly felt a weightless sensation. When he opened them again he found himself face to face with Jaga in the void.

"What is this? Am I back in the Book? Or the Astral Plane?" He asked.

"No Lion-O, you are asleep. For the first time in days, I think."

"Jaga," He pleaded, "Your soul was in the book with us the whole time, wasn't there anything you could have done to warn my about Pumyra?"

The old wizard's eyes softened. "I am sorry for the heartbreak you've had to endure throughout your journey Lion-O, but I'm dead. Not omniscient."

"I wish I could hate her. This would all be so much easier if I could, she lied to me, used me, manipulated me, and even after all that I care about her."

"It's true that she did lie to you, and use you. But these were the actions of a puppet on a string. Would you blame the puppet for the actions of the puppetmaster?"

Lion-O had no answer for him.

"As for manipulating you, we both know that's not true. Try as she might she could never make you violate your morals. You followed her when she was right and stopped her when she was wrong. In that aspect her mission was a failure. Regardless of how you felt about her she could never use your own heart to corrupt you."

"I have to know Jaga, was any of it real?"

"Her love is as real as her hatred. Pumyra lives in this world as if in a dream," His dead mentor explained, "There are times where she is very close to waking from that dream but then Mumm-Ra's spell takes hold and drags her down again. Now he has taken direct control of her and she is little more than a tool of his will. She has a certain level of autonomy, but as long as he hold on to her soul she is his pawn to manipulate as he sees fit."

"There has to be a way to free her, tell me." Lion-O demanded.

"The Spirit Stone may be able to break his hold on her soul, but Pumyra has already fallen once. There is no guarantee she would survive."

"Just like the Tiger clan..."

"Do not lose hope Lion-O, unlike the Tiger clan she is not bound by a curse of her own making, she was stolen and bound against her will, no matter how much she hated you."

"I made a promise the first time I saw her that I would not let her live as a slave. I _will_ free her, Jaga."

"If anyone could it is you, Lion-O. And now, I think it's time you woke up..."

Lion-O's eyes snapped open, as his vision cleared he realized the other cats where standing over him.

"Sleep well?" His brother asked.

"I spoke to Jaga." Lion-s said, standing up his blue eyes once again held their fire, "We have exactly two missions now: We are going to find that last stone, and we _are_ going to free Pumyra from Mumm-Ra's control. I will keep my promise."

"We're with you." Cheetara said.

"To the ends of the earth and back." Tygra agreed.

"No cat left behind." Panthro growled.

"Sounds like fun!" WilyKit and WilyKat cheered.

"Snaaaaarf!"


End file.
